It Happened One Night
by welivebreathewords
Summary: Tessa and Will met on a party and spent a drunken night together. They both try to forget it, but things get complicated when a certain blue eyed boy moves just across the street...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Sooo, this is my first fanfic. I had the idea going on for a while now and I wanted to write it :) You must know that english isn't my native language, so there probably are some mistakes. Feel free to correct them on reviews so I can improve :)**

**I hope you guys like it. Read, review, follow, enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Infernal Devices.**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"What's the big deal, Tessa? You had a good time, the boy was ridiculously hot and you're not pregnant. Things couldn't have gone better," Sophie said. She was one of Tessa's few friends from school.

"I... No, Sophie, it's not like that. I feel like a slut. I don't have one-night stands... and certainly not drunk."

"You're not a slut, okay? You had fun. It's not like it's forbidden by society or something, everyone does it. You don't live in the Victorian Era, get over it."

Tessa sighed. Why were they even friends? She couldn't think of a good reason right now, Sophie was definitely not getting it. This had only been her second time, she was no "sexpert" at all. Sex still was a big deal for her. It was supposed to be with someone you knew and liked, not with a (hot) stranger at some random party!

"So?" Sophie suddenly asked.

"So what?"

"So how was it? Was he sweet and gentle? Or did he went rough on you? You know, I saw him at that party, and I bet he must be a tiger in..."

"Okay, Sophie, I'm gonna stop you there," Tessa said, not wanting to hear her friend's thoughts about the subject. "To be honest, I only remember like half of it. And mostly the stupid details, like the way he talked, or..."

The color of his eyes.

She remembered those eyes staring at her with overwhelming desire, following her everywhere she went inside that tiny bedroom they got in. They were blue, an endless kind of blue, like staring at the ocean. Infinite. During their little... encounter, she'd found herself getting lost in them all the time. It was quite stupid, actually, how she remembered with such details these things, but not the important ones.

* * *

**One week ago...**

Tessa started to feel the effects of the alcohol in her head. _About damn time_. She wasn't having fun at all. Sophie had been dancing all night with some boy named Gideon or Gabriel or something like that, while Maia had disappeared with her boyfriend the minute they got into the party.

She hadn't even wanted to come in the first place. Some guy from their school was throwing it and Maia thought they could use some time out, which was turning to be a terrible idea. Usually on friday nights, Tessa just preferred to be in the quietness of her room, reading a book, preferably one of the classics she loved so much. Maybe even re-reading one. But this...

She kept drinking her beer, and when she finished it, she drank something that probably had vodka in it. And so on.

After a few hours (or maybe minutes? It had definitely felt like hours for Tessa) she felt the sudden need to dance. Oh God, she loved this song. She had to dance this. As soon as she got into the dance floor, she realized a dark haired boy sitting across the room was staring at her. She didn't know why, but she took a few steps nearer him so he could hear her.

"Dance with me," she yelled over the sound of music perforing her ears.

The boy smirked and god, he was hot. Okay, maybe he was more than just "hot". He was, by far, the most beautiful boy she'd ever met. He had gorgeous blue eyes, and black hair, and the perfect face, and... well, she wasn't seeing very clearly to notice anymore things about his face. But he was handsome.

The boy left his glass on the floor and grabbed her hand. She gasped at the contact of her hand with his. If she only knew what they would be doing in an hour or less…

"What's your name?" he yelled. He had a nice voice. And as if he wasn't already hot enough, he had to be _british_. Everyone knows American girls can't resist to accents!

"Tessa! Yours?" she yelled back. The boy put his hands on her waist, and she, on a reflex, wrapped her hands around his neck, wanting to close the distance between them. He got dangerously close and whispered in her ear, really seductively:

"I'm Will."

She had to be dreaming.

Her whole body felt on fire while they danced along with the rhythm of the shitty music, sometimes slow and others fast, but always keeping their closeness. It wasn't until their mouths were an inch apart from each other that she thought she might die.

"You're hot," she whispered. _What are you doing? You don't even know this guy! _

"You're hot too" he smiled. His breath smelled like alcohol.

Some voice in her conscience was telling her to shut it, that this was crazy, that no matter how beautiful this guy was she couldn't do this. But in that moment, she couldn't bring herself to care. All she wanted to do was to taste that mouth.

And she did it. She leaned on and closed the distance between them, planting a full kiss on his mouth, waiting for him to let her in so their tongues could dance together. When he did, Tessa was about to explode. And surprisingly, it wasn't awkward. It was like they've known each other for years, but something inside her mind told her it was probably because of the alcohol. He probably was drunk too. He tasted like wine, beer, vodka, and pretty much every alcoholic drink she knew. But she was having such a good time…

"Get a room!" she heard some boy screaming across the room. She opened her eyes and noticed that there wasn't even a single inch separating them, they were completely against each other's bodies.

Will separated a bit and said, "Why don't we take this upstairs?"

She just nodded, out of breath and desperate to be in a room alone with him.

* * *

And that was it. The only things she remembered after that, were some images of them making out in a bed, Will taking off his shirt, his eyes looking at her everywhere, pleasure spreading all over her body. And the morning after, of course. Or was it a few hours later? She only knew it was earlier in the morning and she was in some bed. Naked. With a guy she didn't even knew.

Luckily for her, his face had been facing the pillow, and he was sleeping deeply. She got dressed quickly and basically went off running. _How could she have been so stupid?_

She couldn't believe what she had done. She was Tessa Gray, she was shy, she liked to read, she rarely went to parties. Thank God she wasn't a virgin. That would've been ten times worse.

She had lost her virginity a few months ago, with her (ex)boyfriend, and although things didn't last longer, she was happy that at least she did it with someone she knew. But this stranger… she was so, so ashamed of herself. _Oh God, what if people from school find out? What if I am now considered the whore of school? _She couldn't even think about that.

"Tessa! That is not going to happen, okay? No one is gonna find out, I promise," Sophie said. She realized she must've said the last thing out loud. Nice, she also talked alone now.

"God, Sophie, I can't believe I did that! And I didn't even remember if we used a condom or not. How could I be so irresponsible?"

"You were drunk, and caught up in the moment! I saw you two dancing, Tessa, and you two were practically having sex on the dance floor. You can't deny you wanted to do it. And you told me the pregnancy test went negative, so calm down, everything's fine."

_Ugh._ She was one hundred percent sure that if she wouldn't have been drunk, they wouldn't have even danced together. And she was terribly grateful she was not pregnant. What would she even do in such situation?

"Come on, let's go out. Try to get your mind off it. Plus, it's already been a week," Sophie said.

She was probably right. Tessa could use some fresh air right now. She _had _to forget it.

They were going to go for a walk, but something stopped them as soon as they got out. There was a moving truck right across the street. "_New neighbors?"_ Tessa thought. She hated pretty much all her neighbors right now. They always complained about her making noise, even though it was her brother Nate the one who was always inviting people to their house. She hoped this family was nice.

"Looks like you're having new neighbors! Let's go see who they are" Sophie said, excited. "What if there's a hot boy?" she added with a wink.

Tessa rolled her eyes. She was not interested in dating anyone anymore. Not for a while, at least.

When they reached the house, they saw a black haired girl getting some boxes out of the truck. She looked about a year younger than them, and she was very pretty. She smiled as soon as she saw them.

"Oh hi! Do you live in that house over there?" she pointed at Tessa's house. She had an English accent.

"Yeah, I live there. I am Tessa Gray, and this is my friend Sophie Collins. Do you need help with that?" Tessa said.

"Please, that would be nice. I'm Cecily, by the way. Cecily Herondale."

They all smiled to each other and grabbed a box. Cecily seemed really nice, Tessa thought. _Maybe her family is moving from England? _That would explain the English accent.

The house was enormous on the inside, much more than it seemed from outside.

"Will!" Cecily yelled. "Come help, you asshole! I'm not getting your stuff out of the truck."

_Will? _Panic extended all over Tessa. _Don't even think about it, there are plenty of Will's in the world._ She was being way too dramatic, Sophie was right. She had to stop thinking about it.

"I'm sorry for that," Cecily said. "He's my brother, and he's really lazy, so…"

"Oh, would you shut up, Cecy? I'm already here." someone said with a british voice.

Tessa felt like the whole world stopped spinning when she took a glance at the boy that was coming down the stairs. He had beautiful blue eyes, dark hair and _that voice_.

_Kill me_, she thought. _Kill me now._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm really sorry about how long it took me to update this. I've been having a lot of tests lately so it was difficult. Anyway, I hope you like it.**

**These chapters were more of the prologue, at the end of this one the story is kind of really beggining.**

**Review, follow, enjoy :)**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Will had woken up with the memory of being at that party again. He felt really bad, mostly because of the girl, who probably had the best night of her life and he couldn't even remember her properly. But this was just his ego talking. He actually felt bad with himself too, this wasn't his usual behavior at all: he'd slept with girls before, but he had known them from school, he wasn't always such a _manwhore_.

They had moved from London to the suburbs of New York just a few weeks ago, because of his father's job. Until that day, the day of the moving, they had been living in Will's cousin house. Will got along with Jace really well, they were actually very alike. Cecily, on the other hand, couldn't stand them when they were together, since "it was like having two Will's and one was enough already".

He was laying on his bed now, in his new bedroom, of his new house: one of the many he'd had all over the years. Thanks to his dad's job, they had moved a few times, and he couldn't remember any calm period in his life except from his childhood.

He was born in Wales, and grew there until Ella, his older sister, died. He was only twelve years old when it happened, and Cecily nine. The images of the accident still haunted him, but compared to those first months in which he couldn't even sleep without waking up in the middle of the night screaming, it was nothing. Nevertheless, the nightmares had never fully stopped, and were never going to. Will knew that very well.

After Ella died, they lived in different places all over England, but finally they established themselves in London. Will was used to his life there: he had friends, girls, he knew the city and knew exactly where to go whenever he was having a good or bad day. He would even dare to say he was happy there. But then his dad had to ruin it all by announcing they were moving to New York. And not even to Manhattan! Their new house was in the suburbs, forty-five minutes away from the big city. Great. His life was just so fun in those moments.

"Will!" he heard his sister call. "Come help, you asshole! I'm not getting your stuff out of the truck!"

He sighed. He wasn't feeling like getting off his bed, and certainly not for unpacking, but this was probably the fourth time Cecily had called him and he had to bring his stuff to his room. On second thoughts, he had to bring his stuff to his room before Cecily started digging up through his things and…

"…he's my brother, and he's really lazy, so…" he heard her sister say. Who the hell was she talking with? And why was she always saying shit about him? Ugh. Was it so hard to understand that he just wasn't in the mood to unpack?

"Oh, would you shut up, Cecy? I'm already here" he groaned. He would have never expected to find Cecily with two other girls though. Who were them?

One had brown hair and dark hazel eyes, and was looking at him strangely. But he was far more intrigued about the other girl: she was tall (taller than the other one, at least) and had dark brown hair. He couldn't see her eyes because she was looking to the floor, apparently embarrassed of something, her face red.

"I know I may be too good looking for your eyes, but it's not like you will die if you let yourself enjoy the view, you know?" he joked. He knew he was being an asshole but he wasn't in the friendly mood. At all.

She looked up then, and a couple of beautiful gray eyes dedicated him an angry, expectant and still embarrassed gaze. But the only thing he could think of was that she seemed terribly familiar to him. And then it hit him.

* * *

_**One week ago..**_

_"Come on William, you have to go!" Jace begged for the millionth time. He couldn't even understand why Jace wanted so badly for him to go to some stupid party. It wasn't like Jace would be alone there: he had his girlfriend and plenty of friends that were going. He was the one who was going to be alone._

_"I don't even know anyone. And I'm not in the mood."_

_"Yeah, cause you're never in the mood. Or at least you haven't been since you came to my house." He was right though. They had been living in Jace's house for about two weeks and he wasn't feeling like doing anything but read, sleep or eat. "You'll be moving next week, so you won't have to deal with me anymore then! But you should come today and I'm not stopping until you do."_

_"Leave me alone, Jace. Why do you want so badly for me to go?"_

_"Because," he said, "school starts next week and this is our last free weekend. Free from all of our responsibilities and homeworks and all that school crap. And, your mother may or may have not told me to take you, you know, since you've been locked in here since you came from London."_

_"Great argument, very convincing. I'm just gonna go because my mother wants me to. Now I sound like an emo."_

_"To be honest, you kind of do." Jace shrugged. "Look, you don't have to go if you don't want to. I'm not forcing you. But there'll probably even be some people from your new school, and, to be honest, you could use some friends."_

_Was he also a pain in the ass like Jace?_

_He sighed in defeat, knowing Jace actually had some points, and said: "At least tell me there's gonna be alcohol."_

_Jace smiled. "Of course, man. And who knows. You might even get lucky today."_

* * *

_He found his gaze traveling everywhere she went. Every single thing she did, he couldn't stop staring._

_They had been kissing for a few minutes and now they were inside some messy bedroom, full of bottles and clothes all over the floor. There was a bed unmade, and the walls were filled with posters of naked women. "How classy," Will thought. Although he wasn't very classy himself._

_"So," he heard himself saying, "which school do you go to?"_

_"Er… I go to the New York Institute. What about you?"_

_He didn't know why, but he felt kind of disappointed. That was Jace's school, not the one he was going to go. It would've been nice to know someone there. Scratch that, it would've been nice to have __**her**__ in his school. But what was he thinking? He really didn't know anything about this girl, other than her name was Tessa and she went to the New York Institute. And that she was really beautiful._

_"Idris School. Have you heard of it?"_

_"Right. Yeah, I have." She gave him a mischievous and tempting look. "But let's stop talking now."_

_He felt his hands placed on the sides of her waist while he pulled her towards the bed. It was almost as if he weren't controlling his own moves. He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be… Oh. What was he thinking? All he knew now was that his mouth was on hers and their tongues were touching and that she tasted like alcohol but smelled like lavender. Which was really really nice._

_All of sudden, he wasn't wearing his shirt anymore and neither was she. A black laced bra and her jeans were all she had on and he didn't think he could handle the temptation anymore. This girl was going to be the death of him._

* * *

She was the girl from the party. _The girl from the party. In his house._

"You're an idiot, William," Cecily said. But he couldn't stop staring at the girl (Tessa) and she seemed like she couldn't stop staring at him either. "This is our neighbor, Tessa Gray. She lives across the street. And this is her friend Sophie Collins. Um, Tessa, Sophie, this is my brother, Will Herondale."

Tessa was red from head to toes, and he probably was too. He'd just made a stupid joke to the girl he'd slept with without even knowing her. He just found out the girl was his neighbor from across the street. How embarrassing, for Christ sake. But the most important thing, he was speechless because this girl was even more beautiful than he remembered. Of course, the alcohol wasn't affecting them now, or at least not to him. But she actually was pretty.

She no longer smelled like alcohol, but the lavender smell remained intact. It was really nice. Bleh. _She_ was really nice.

"Wait, Herondale?" Sophie asked. "Do you happen to know a Jace Herondale?"

"Yes!" Cecily responded enthusiastic. "Yeah, he's our cousin. Do you know him?"

"Of course. He goes to our school."

"Oh! So you go to the New York Institute. Will and I go to Idris School."

Sophie gave her a polite smile and he knew he should say something. He was standing there like an idiot. And so was Tessa, who was now avoiding his gaze. But the whole situation was beyond weird for Will to make some stupid comment about schools or something. He was still processing the fact that the mysterious girl from the party was _his neighbor_.

"Cecy, where did you leave your…" his mother was asking while she traveled down the stairs, but she stopped when she saw them. "Oh! I didn't know you guys had company."

"Um, mom, this is Tessa Gray from that white house across the street. And this is her friend Sophie Collins," Cecily gave the introductions once again.

"Nice to meet you, girls," his mom smiled. "Are you the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth?" she asked Tessa.

"Um, yeah…" she said shyly, her cheeks still flushed. How the hell did his mom know her?!

Linette just kept smiling and said, "You look just like your mother! I met her and your dad a few hours ago and they were really nice, they even invited us to dinner tomorrow night. I hope you don't mind, of course. I was hoping you and my kids could get along."

Tessa just nodded slowly, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation, and she wasn't the only one.

Dinner at her house?! _Things were going to get bad._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Obviously, her mother didn't let her skip dinner with the Herondales. Tessa really tried to convince her, she did: whether by saying she had a lot of homework to do, that she needed to see Sophie for some project, or even by being honest (well, as much honest as she could be in _that _situation) and saying she simply didn't want that family to come over for dinner, but all her mother said was that if she had homework, she could get up early on Sunday. If she had to see Sophie, they could perfectly get together another day. And if she really didn't want them to come over, she'd need to change her attitude. Plus, she actually said that "both kids were about her age and she could use some more friends". _Jesus, thank you for that, Mom._

How was she even supposed to act? She had slept with this boy. Like slept, _SLEPT. _And ran off the next morning. And now his family was coming to her house for some silly dinner. The whole situation was beyond bizarre! What if she accidentally said something and everyone ended up knowing that she was basically a slut? Oh God, worse, what if HE said something?

She needed to talk to Will. Soon. Just to make sure he wouldn't tell anyone…

Not that she wanted to talk to him for any other reason. Not that she wanted to know him, at least so she could feel a little better with herself. Not that she wanted to feel that mouth of his against hers again, this time sober…

"Tessie!" her mom yelled, "come downstairs!"

Pushing aside every stupid (and horny?) thought about Will, she made sure her hair was okay, took a deep breath and went downstairs. She was wearing a blue tank top with a black skirt that reached mid-thigh. Simple, but she liked it. Not that she cared what Will Herondale thought about it. No, of course not.

They were all having a quiet conversation when she reached the living room. Cecily was wearing a short, black dress that suited her body perfectly, and made her look even more beautiful. She obviously had their parents' beauty, just as Will. Linette Herondale was absolutely stunning. And the man that now stood there in her living room (which had to be Will and Cecily's father) looked exactly like an older version of Will. Needless to say, he was very handsome.

She suddenly felt intimidated by this family. They all looked like greek gods…

Will was the first one who noticed her. He just stood there awkwardly, not quite listening to what their families were talking about.

He obviously had been drunk in that party, probably just as much as her or maybe even worse, for there was no way in hell a guy like him would be with a girl like her sober. Not that she wasn't pretty, but he could get so much better… Their eyes met for a brief moment, and then he broke the eye-contact by letting his gaze travel all over Tessa's body. She felt herself blush from head to toes. _He was checking her out!_

"Oh! You're here already. Let's move this to the dinner table, shall we?" her mother said.

She found herself sitting next to Cecily, whom, Tessa was learning, was really enthusiastic about everything. She seemed like one of those people who were happy almost all the time. Will was on the other side of Tessa, which was the reason she wouldn't stop talking to Cecily, so she wouldn't have to look or talk to him. Ironic, since she decided they needed to talk less than an hour before. But there was a huge step between thinking something and actually doing it…

"So," Tessa asked Cecy, "how is the city treating you? It must be a huge change compared to London."

"Well, it's really different compared to London because we're not even in Manhattan here. This city is so quiet! But we're used to changes. We've moved a lot over the years."

"Really? I've lived here my entire life. Where are you originally from?"

"We're from Wales. We lived there until I was nine, and Will twelve."

"That must be a little nice, though," Tessa said. "I mean, knowing all those places. I wish I could visit another country someday. In which other cities did you live?"

"You ask too many questions" Will suddenly said.

Tessa was startled. She almost, _almost _forgot he was there. This was actually the first time that he talked to her since… since he recognized her. She supposed that the first arrogant comment he ever said to her was before he realized who she was. The moment their gazes met, back at his house, the recognition, shame, embarrassment and pretty much other emotion had been written all over his face.

"Um… yeah, I do that a lot. Sorry," Tessa blushed. The boy was probably starting to think that red was her natural skin color, since she couldn't stop blushing whenever he was around. Will just rolled his eyes and looked to other side. _Oookay._

"No, you don't have to apologize. My brother's an ass." Cecily said. Tessa had to hold back a laugh at that. "Hey, can we see your room?"

"My room?"

"You know how someone's room tells a lot about that person? I'd love to see your room and get to know you more. If you're okay with it, of course," Cecily quickly added.

_My room?_ Tessa thought. _As long as Will doesn't come up…_

"Yeah, sure."

They stood up and Tessa led the way to her bedroom. She had to admit, she really liked Cecily. Her non stopping enthusiasm was a little overwhelming sometimes, but she was a nice girl. But all thoughts about Cecily faded when she heard another person walking behind them. _Please don't be Will. Please don't be Will. Please don't be…_

"I hope you don't mind if I come with you. I'd _love _to get to know you more," that familiar voice said. Tessa turned around only to find a William Herondale smirking. She resisted the urge to kick that smirk off his face.

As they climbed the stairs, Tessa started to think everything he knew about this blue eyed stranger.

He had slept with her.

He was extremely hot.

He lived across the street.

And he was a total and complete _asshole_.

She'd only had sex once before him, and she was terribly wasted the second time, so it must have sucked. Badly. Tessa didn't remember pretty much anything, but she was starting to think that maybe Will did remember. And maybe that was why he was messing with her. Just to make fun of her or something. _Congratulations, you obviously do know how to pick them, Tessa! _she thought to herself.

They reached her bedroom and she nervously opened the door. But as soon as they entered, she wanted to die.

There were books _everywhere_, of course. She loved reading. She had never been ashamed of that before, but now Will was going to make fun of her, and probably think that he'd slept with some bookworm nerdy girl. Which was kind of true anyway. There were also clothes spread all over the floor, _including _bras and panties. It was all she'd tried on before the Herondales came, and obviously, she forgot to put everything back in the closet.

"Sorry, everything's a mess and you can come in and sit on the bed if you want I'm just gonna clean this up and I hope you don't mind…" she blurted out without stopping.

"Don't worry, Tessa," Cecily said, "mine's definitely worse."

She quickly grabbed all her clothes and put them back in her closet. When she turned around, Will was scanning all the books in her shelf, and Cecy was watching everything from the bed.

"All these books are yours?" Will asked.

Something about the way he said it made Tessa think that he was seriously interested, so she took a deep breath and said yes.

"You like the classics…" Will muttered to himself, but Tessa nodded anyways. "Which one's your favorite?"

"I, uh… Great Expectations, I guess."

Will smiled (actually _smiled_) and kept scanning the titles. "I would have never took you for the kind of girl who read. Not the classics, at least."

_Of course_, Tessa thought. _He probably thought I was the kind of girl who got drunk all the time and went to parties and slept around with boys…_

"You know, you two would be perfect for each other," said Cecily, all of sudden. When both of them looked at her nervously, she looked at Tessa and added, "Will reads all the time, something I don't get, to be honest. Books are boring for me. At least most of them. But anyway, he probably have read all these books you have here."

"You… read?" Tessa asked Will, startled. He just shrugged, obviously trying to make it look like nothing, but Cecily gave him away. "Don't try to pretend! He reads all the time, Tessa, you have no idea."

Tessa chuckled. What were the odds? She would have never thought Will read, too. Not many boys of their age read, specially not the classics. Maybe they did have more in common than she thought.

"So," Will coughed, desperate for a change of subject, "I heard our schools will be rivals in the next football match."

Cecily raised an eyebrow. "How do you know which school Tessa goes to?"

Indeed, how did he know? Tessa's confusion lasted a second until she remembered: they had talked about that at the party. _Oh God…_

He gave her sister a glare that pretty much said are-you-stupid-or-what. "Her friend told us yesterday, Cecy."

_Right. _Sophie had told them. It was obvious that she was being way to paranoid about everything. But it was difficult to relax in such situation…

"The New York Institute and Idris School always compete against each other in matches. You know, they're the two biggest and more important schools around here. There aren't many more…" she informed them. "Actually, they're sort of rivals in everything, people of both schools don't usually get along."

"Don't usually get along?" Will repeated.

"Also meaning as they hate each other."

"That's stupid!" Cecily said. "I like you, and our cousin Jace is there, who can be a pain in the ass most of the times, but he's our cousin. That rivalry thing it's stupid."

"Yeah, that's what I think," Tessa said quietly. "There are some people that don't care about it, but most of them… yeah, they can't stand each other."

"What if two people from these schools start dating?" asked Will.

Both Cecily and Tessa raised their eyebrows and looked at him. _Why would he want to know that?_

Will shrugged. "What? I'm curious. I heard there are a lot of hot chicks in that school…"

Anger and embarrassment completely invaded Tessa. Who did he think he was?! One minute an asshole, next minute some actual nice person who you could have a conversation with, and the next minute he was a stupid freaking idiot again. But she wasn't anyone to be mad at that comment. Yes, they had slept together, but they weren't in any kind of relationship at all. It shouldn't bother her that he was interested in other girls. It shouldn't bother her if he started dating someone… right?

She dedicated him a deathly glare nevertheless. "That I know of, it only happened once. Of course, it's not like the schools forbid it, but the couple received a lot of crap from everyone."

Cecily snorted. "Whatever. These people are stupid."

"How were your first weeks anyways?"

"They were okay, I guess. I made a couple of friends, really nice people. Will hung out with some guys and got into the football team. I'm thinking about being a cheerleader. It seems like a nice way to burn some calories…" Cecily said.

"Wait," Tessa said and looked at Will, "you got into the football team?"

"Yup."

Well shit. People from the football team were often the most hated ones because of the whole competition stuff. Football was a huge deal in both schools. Tessa never cared much about it, but she sometimes went to the matches, specially when her brother Nate was in high school. He had been a player on the team, so she had to go see him every two months or so.

It was one thing if you were some normal boy or girl. But if you were in a sport team…

"Why did you ask?"

"No reason," Tessa said numbly. People couldn't, by any means, find out about her and Will. Not that there was something going on between them, but they couldn't find out about what happened. Soon, everyone on the New York Institute will know who Will was. He was on the football team, and he was someone… _noticeable_, so it was gonna happen. But she would get shit from everyone if people knew. And not only because she'd slept with a guy from Idris School (who was on the team) but because she was… she was Tessa Gray. People barely believed she'd dated James Carstairs last year. They probably didn't even think they had sex. Her nose was always stuck in a book, she was rarely partying, and didn't have many friends, so they would tease her to death if they knew.

When Linette Herondale called them from downstairs, telling them that they were already going, Tessa realized she and Will hadn't talked about _it_. And they had to, they really had. So when Cecily hugged her and said goodbye, Tessa stopped him before he could get out of her room.

"Wait," she said, "I, uh, we have to, uh…"

"William! Come on!" Edmund Herondale shouted.

"I know what you're gonna say," Will said quickly, "but I have to go. Tomorrow, okay?"

He gave her some kind of embarrassed look, probably because he didn't know how to say goodbye to her, and the next second he was just gone.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow. _Tomorrow._

"Oh, and Tessa…" Will said from the hall. He popped his head through the opened door and smirked. "Nice underwear."

It was then when she realized there was a pink bra still on the floor.

* * *

**A/N: I'M SO SORRYYYY. I KNOW YOU PROBABLY HATE ME RIGHT NOW BUT SCHOOL HAS BEEN KILLING ME. Still is, by the way. But I'll try to update more often. **

**Anyway, a HUGE thank you to everyone who followed/reviewed! Really, I can't thank you enough. You guys are the best!**

**Until next chapter :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Tessa, wait!" Will yelled.

This was it. This was the moment she'd been avoiding since she knew he was her neighbor. There was definitely no turning back now: they either discussed what happened at that party or they discussed it, she didn't have another choice because she _knew_ they had to talk about it. But, oh God, why it was so difficult to her? His whole presence was so intimidating that every time Tessa saw this guy she wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. His gaze made her nervous. And he was constantly teasing her. It was impossible for her to talk about what happened in such circumstances.

"I've thought I'd catch you here at this hour. Guess I was right," he said. She was only one block away from her house, and on her way to school. The New York Institute was nothing more than ten long and painful blocks away. Sadly, there wasn't a freaking bus or nothing that could take her, so she had to walk.

"Uh… It's 7:30 AM. Please tell me you did not wake up just so we could talk…" she trailed off.

"No offense, but even though I enjoy your company _so much_, I would never do that," he said and laughed. "I'm on my way to school too."

She raised her eyebrows. "And you don't wear a uniform?"

"I don't have it yet. Cecily doesn't, either. But they're giving them to us this week."

"_Well, that's sad" _Tessa thought, and mentally slapped herself. But the way he looked in those casual dark jeans and black shirt… She was ashamed to say she was really enjoying the view.

"Where's Cecily, though?" she asked.

"My father is taking her in our car."

"And you're really going to walk when you could go in a car…?"

He shrugged. "I like to walk. Plus, not everyday one can walk five blocks with his hot neighbor." He wiggled his eyebrows at that.

Tessa had to look to other side, while color invaded her cheeks. "Stop," she pleaded.

"Stop what?"

"Stop saying those things. You're making me uncomfortable." Where all the honesty came from, she had no idea. But if he kept saying stuff like that things were gonna get more and more embarrassing for her.

And then he did the last thing she was expecting him to: he started laughing uncontrollably.

"What?" she hissed. Will, of course, was still laughing his ass off.

"What?!" she repeated. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," he said. A smile was still covering his lips while he wiped a tear off his cheek. "It's just so ironic how a few comments can make you uncomfortable when we…"

She sighed and closed her eyes. Oh God, this was definitely it. _She. Was. Going. To. Talk. About. This. With. Him._

"When we slept together. Right."

"Well, at least I know you're not going to pretend it didn't happen."

"Why would I do that?" she asked, looking at him now. They were walking at a slow pace, for neither of them was in a rush. "It would be childish. We need to handle this like adults, so we can get over it for good."

Will stared at her and then slowly nodded. "How very forward," he said in that sexy british accent of his. "But I guess all Americans are, right?"

Tessa just shrugged, so he continued. "Anyway, I don't know what we could possibly discuss about it. What's done it's done. Not that there's anything to say…"

"There are a lot of things to say," she said in a low voice, suddenly very aware of a pair of gorgeous blue eyes staring at her. "I don't know where to start. First of all I guess I should apologize..."

"Apologize?" he asked surprised. "Why would you apologize for?"

"I, uh, I don't know, for anything I might have said or did that could've offended you?"

Will looked like he was about to laugh again. _That couldn't be good._

"Tessa, what do you think you could've possibly done to offend me?" he asked her.

"I don't know!" she sighed. "That's the thing, Will, _I don't know. _I don't remember the slightest thing about that night. I mean, I remember some stuff before… _it…_ but that's all, I swear."

Relief crossed through his face. "Oh, good, so you don't remember either. Now I don't feel so bad."

"So, I'm guessing you were as drunk as I was…?" she asked.

"Well, let's just say I never had a hangover like the one I had after that night."

She laughed softly. "It's probably for the best. I mean, things would be even more awkward if we did remember the whole… _act_."

There was a pause.

Seconds later, Will's voice broke the silence. "Do you go to many parties?"

A flurry of a smile passed over Tessa's lips before she spoke. "Is that your not-so-subtle way of asking me if I do this often?"

"This?"

"_This _as in… one night stands…"

He chuckled. "Yeah, I don't know. Do you?"

Was there anything more uncomfortable than this? The way Tessa saw it, there were two possible ways to answer that question: either she played it cool and said something very whore-like such as _"Uh, I don't know, sometimes, ya' know?"_, or she said the truth, but in a vague way, so he wouldn't know she'd only had sex once before him. She decided to go with the second way.

"Not really."

"Go to parties or have one night stands?"

"Both," she said. _Please leave it there. Please change the subject. Please please please please pl—_

"But you've… you've had sex before, right?" Will asked nervously.

WHY DID HE HAVE TO ASK THAT?!

"Yes!" she said, almost too quickly. "Yes, yes, I have, I just, um, I'd never, you know, done it in parties, uh…"

Great. Now she sounded stupid and definitely not believable. Will remained silent, his head clearly in another thing. But then a question popped into Tessa's mind: had _he _done this before? It was obvious that he was no virgin here: the guy was way to handsome for that. But did he often sleep with girls he didn't even know? She wanted to ask, but… _Oh, what the hell, _Tessa thought. It's not like she could seem anymore stupid than she already did.

"What about you?"

"What?" he asked, his full attention now on her.

She avoided his gaze. "Do you often sleep with girls you don't even know?"

Will chuckled, and then just shrugged. No answer.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tessa hissed, starting to feel a little bit mad. But she decided she didn't even want to hear that answer. She should've thought that. Will seemed like the type of boy who did this kind of stuff, who slept with girls he didn't know at random parties. Or who slept with girls and never called them again. She'd been a stupid for even asking. The answer was so obvious! "Never mind," she said, "but you have to promise me something."

"Do I?"

"Yup. You do. You have to promise me you won't tell _anyone_," Tessa said, emphasizing the last word.

"Now why wouldn't I?" Will asked, a teasing smile playing across his lips.

"Don't do this," she pleaded. "I can't have people in school finding out. Really. Promise it."

He sighed. "Fine, Tessa, don't worry. I wasn't planning on anyways."

"Great. Oh! I have to turn around here. I'm glad we could talk. Bye Will!" she blurted out, and quickly gave him a kiss on his left cheek. Then she just went off running, without bothering to look back.

What the hell did she just do?! If he hadn't thought she was weird before, he sure as hell thought it now. Her desire to end the conversation once for all had obviously invaded her completely, so she just said goodbye with the most awkward way of all _(she gave him a freaking kiss on the cheek!) _and then pretty much disappeared. Yeah. What a nice way to go.

* * *

**A/N: Short chapter, I know and I'm so sorryyyy. But I promise the next one will be longer! I swear. **

**Some of the stuff mentioned in this chapter will be developed later, like Tessa's first time and her relationship with Jem, Will's other times (he's definitely not as slut as Tessa thinks :P), and, you know, more. _  
_**

**Once again thank you for all your reviews and follows! It means A LOT to me :) Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The class was getting increasingly more boring by each second that passed. Her mind was far, far away from the French Revolution, focusing more on a couple of gorgeous, infinite blue eyes that were often haunting her dreams.

It was so cliché, really. She being all dreamy during classes, thinking not only in another thing irrelevant to History, Math, or whatever the subject were, but in a boy. And not just _a boy_. William Herondale.

They hadn't properly talked since last week, when they "discussed" (could you even say it like that?) _the _night and she begged him not the tell anyone. He'd promised her he wouldn't, and so far, no one in her school seemed to know, so that was probably a good sign. Well, Sophie knew. But she was Tessa's best friend.

After that, no more words were exchanged between them. Only some uncomfortable smiles, whenever they saw each other through their windows (both of their rooms were at the back of their houses, so they had to be in their respective living rooms to see each other. But it had happened) or across the street. It was meant to be that way, though. It wasn't like they would develop a relationship or something. Not even a friendship. He wasn't friend-material for her, and she knew exactly the main reason of why was that: friends didn't sleep with each other.

Some more flashes of that night had came to her over the week, but all of them through dreams, so she wasn't sure if the stuff she dreamt had actually happened. They were useless images though. Them kissing, on a messy bedroom, on a bed… but nothing important. It would be so more useful if she could actually remember the whole thing, from beginning to end. Why did she have to be drunk? This was the kind of stuff she _wanted _to remember.

Then again, if she hadn't been drunk, the whole thing with Will wouldn't have even happened.

"You've been blushing since the class started. What are you thinking of, Tessa?" Sophie whispered in a teasing voice. Her seat was right next to Tessa's. She just rolled her eyes as a response.

Apparently, thinking of Will made her blush _even _when he wasn't there. She was so screwed…

"Ah, it's so obvious though. You're thinking of that hot neighbor of yours!"

"Shhhhh!" Tessa hissed. "Shut up, Sophie." Her friend just chuckled.

* * *

"I am _so_ _not _in the mood for P.E.," Maia Roberts complained while the whole class walked together to the gym. Tessa liked Maia. She wasn't her best friend, that spot only belonged to Sophie, but they got along really well. One thing they had in common? Their hate for sports.

"Don't even say it. One hour running around the gym? No thank you," Tessa said.

At least it was their last subject of the day. After that, she already had it all planned: she would lock herself in her room and start that book she'd been dying to read. And no one would bother her, not even her Algebra homework. That could perfectly wait until tomorrow.

There were a great lot of people inside the gym, which was unusual. At this hour, it was always Tessa's class and no one else. But now there were at least thirty people, with uniforms and playing… football?

"What's going on?" Tessa asked Maia.

"Haven't you heard? Idris School gym's roof fell off and they're now training here."

"What?!"

"Yeah."

"But, aren't they supposed to be… 'enemies'? Like, last time I heard, both schools were always competing against each other…"

"Yeah, that didn't change," Maia said. "But there isn't any other school with a gym as big as ours. Rumor has it that their principal paid a huge amount of money to Mrs. Fairchild so she would let them train here."

"Okay, people, listen up," Tessa's P.E. professor, Mr. Mortmain, yelled. "The football team from Idris School is training here, so we had to split the gym in two. This," he pointed to where they were standing, "is our half. Do not cross that line, okay? Now I want you to run for ten minutes. Go!"

There was a general huff but they all started to run. Tessa was lost in her own thoughts, more focusing on that than running. Wasn't Will in the football team? He'd said that to her when his family came to her house. She looked around, but there was no sign of him. An extremely small part of her was disappointed, but she quickly convinced herself that all she felt was relief. And she _was_ relieved. Tessa was very aware that nothing was ever going to happen with that boy, but still, she didn't want him to see her with those awful gym clothes, all sweaty.

"Oh my God," Sophie said to her in a low voice, as soon as she matched her pace. "Destiny obviously wants you and that hottie together."

She snorted. "Whatever. He's not even here, though."

"Uh, Tessa, I'm pretty sure he's right there…"

"What?! No he's no—OH MY GOD." Will Herondale was, indeed, in the gym. She hadn't seen him before because some guys had been covering him, but now he was very well visible. And he was looking at her.

She thought she might faint. Right there, at that moment.

Will slowly raised a hand and mouthed "hi". Tessa felt herself blush, so she just gave him a weak smile and then focused her mind on keep running. "Destiny" was obviously screwing with her.

"Oh God, Sophie, this is so embarrassing," she whispered.

"Don't worry! You just have to play it cool and no one will suspect anything."

"What will no one suspect?" Maia asked them from behind.

_Shit. _"Nothing, Mai…"

"Tessa was just worried that people find out that she's on her period. You know, if her pants get stained because of running so much…" Sophie intervened.

"Oh, right. Ugh. Well, maybe you should just tell Mortmain so you won't run." Maia suggested.

Right. Like she needed to caught Will's attention by sitting alone in a bank. No thanks.

The hour passed like that. Some glances were exchanged every few minutes, but Tessa quickly looked back all those times. She was too embarrassed to have him there… or to have him in her life, period! There was a reason stuff like the one they did were called _one night stands. _It was supposed to be a few hours thing, and never see each other again. They weren't supposed to be neighbors. Their families weren't supposed to have dinner together. He wasn't supposed to train in her freaking school!

Once the hour was finished, Tessa grabbed her clothes and quickly changed in the Women dressers. Sophie tried to talk more about William, but she wasn't in the mood. He had a constant presence in her life already, he didn't need to be the main theme of her conversations with Sophie all 24/7 too.

When she reached the street, she heard someone calling out her name. _For God's sake! _she thought.

"Is this our thing?" she asked him irritated when she turned around.

"What?" Will asked.

"This. You following me on the street. Is this our thing?"

"I'm not following you," Will stated. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I live just in front of your house. I have to walk these blocks too."

"Why do you have to do it with me?" she said.

Will gave her a weird look. "Jesus, I didn't know it bothered you so much."

Tessa took a deep breath. No, of course it didn't bother her that much. Why was she being such a bitch? "No, no, I'm sorry, Will. It's just… the whole thing… I didn't know you were going to train here, and having to see you there, in front of all my classmates…"

"No, it's okay. You have every right to be… stressed, I guess. But there's one thing I can't understand," he said, his eyes piercing through her face.

"What's that?"

"Why do you make it such a big deal?"

Tessa laughed ironically. Was this boy kidding? "Well, obviously, it isn't a big deal for you, but for me it is! I don't usually sleep around with people!"

"I didn't said that! I meant— God, Tessa, why do you care so much if people find out or don't? Look how you're acting right now, just because I'm going be there in your school a couple of days a week!"

"I don't know, Will, I care! I don't want that reputation on me! People will think I'm a slut, I don't want that. And haven't you paid attention of what I said the other day? You're from… Idris School. People would hate me even more."

"Oh come on, Tess, you don't really think that, do you?" he asked. _Tess? _she thought. No one had ever called her that. It definitely sounded good. Or at least in his mouth it did. Pushing away every thought of how her name sounded in his mouth, she focused back on the subject.

"Of course I think so. I _was _here when they bullied a girl for dating a boy from your school! And with me it'll be even worse," she said, more to herself than for him to hear.

"This is way too much of a TV drama. Your friends won't stop being your friends if they find out…"

"No, _they_ particularly won't, but excuse me if I'm not feeling like being teased by everyone else in this fucking school. So yeah, you being there while I'm there with all my classmates is a little bit stressful. I hope you can understand that."

"Wait," Will said, "what did you mean before when you said 'and with me it'll be even worse'? What's the difference between you and the rest of them?"

No. No. No. They weren't going to talk about it.

She wasn't going to tell him about her reputation in that school. Nerdy, bookworm girl with like two or three friends. The girl who always read and never went out. People didn't tease her right now, but if they find out? She didn't want to go through that. Not now, not _ever_. And Will didn't need to know about that! It would made her look like a total loser (which, in fact, she kind of was) and she wasn't sure of how he'd react.

She laughed softly. _Play it cool, Tessa, _she said to herself, though her heart was beating erratically.

"It would cost you a great amount of alcohol to make me talk about that," she said.

"Then go out with me, and I promise I'll take it out of you," he said flirtatiously, a smirk slowly appearing on his beautiful lips. Tessa felt out of breath.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" she whispered.

"I think we've already passed the date stage, I mean, after what we've done…" he said, passing a hand through his messy raven hair.

Tessa felt like a total and complete idiot. Why did she even ask that? Of course it wasn't a date. Of course it would be stupid to "date" after having sex!

"Sorry," she said in a low voice. "Of course it's definitely not a date, duh," she laughed uncomfortably. "I don't know, where would you want to go? And why?"

He shrugged. "Because now I'm intrigued and I want to know more about you, so I'm taking it as a challenge. I promise I'd find out that thing you won't tell me. And about where, I don't know yet."

She snorted. "Good luck with that, seriously."

Will rolled his eyes. "So? Do you accept?"

"I don't know…"

"Come on, Tess, it'll be fun!" he said, pouting.

"Fine," she laughed, "whatever. Where shall we meet?"

"Outside your house at 11am. I just had the best idea of where to go."

"Really? Where?"

He gave her a satisfactory smirk. "I'm not telling you. It's a surprise."

"Why do you have to be so annoying?" she asked, irritated.

He winked. "It's part of my charm, Tess."

* * *

**A/N: ****heeee. I just love Will so much. I hope you liked this chapter, I'm excited about next one!**

**So, I've started a new fic too, althought I probably won't publish it until it's all written. It's an AU/AH of Wessa (duh) like this one, but it would be kind of smutty. Like, it would be rated M. Not vulgar, just... there would be described sex scenes. I haven't written any of that yet, but would any of you read it? I'm just really in love with the idea but I have to make sure that people are okay with it. **

**Until next time! (oh, and thanks for your reviews and follows and favorites and all, you guys rock! Serously!)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Did you figure out where we are going yet?"

"I figured it out like forty minutes ago," Tessa smiled, unable to hold it back.

Much to Tessa's surprise (who thought they would be walking to the mysterious place) they took the _bus_. There weren't many buses in the small town they lived and even if you did find a bus, they only went to certain places. After a forty-five minutes ride (filled with uncomfortable silences and quiet talks every few minutes) they got off in another borough, only to get on the subway right after it.

"I feel like I need to ask. Why Manhattan?" she said, with genuine interest.

Will waved a hand through his hair and shrugged.

"Never been there. And I thought, 'who would be perfect to show me the place than someone who has lived near there her entire life?'"

"So you're using me... as your personal tour guide,"

Will chuckled. "If that's the way you want to take it, then yes."

She rolled her eyes. "Such a gentleman."

He decided to ignore her comment.

"I just needed to think of a place and Manhattan seemed okay. What we shall do is entirely up to you, though."

"You're lucky I'm not the kind of girl who would take you to Forever 21 all day," she smiled.

"Really?" Will asked. "That's new. And a relief, by the way. Guess we have more things in common then," he suddenly got up. "Come on, this is Grand Central Station. Let's get off here."

* * *

Tessa felt a little unsure of where to take him. Had she said already that the situation was _waaaaay_ too awkward? Well, for her it was. What kind of girl took her one-night-stand into a tour all over Manhattan? What kind of girl just hung out with her one night stand after it?! God, it was all her extremely bad luck's fault.

Even her family probably knew at this point. She had told them she was going to Sophie's house to work in this new History project they had, but once she'd reached the street and met Will, Tessa had been perfectly able to see Nate spying through the window, smirking at her. She'd shot him a deadly glare, basically warning him that he'd better not tell anyone, but he was Nate, and he often did whatever he wanted to...

A couple of ideas suddenly popped into Tessa's mind. Will had never been there, so he obviously had to go to the Empire State Building. And they could go to Times Square later, for it was a one of a kind place. Oh! And to Central Park. It was so lovely during the autumn.

"I know where to start," she said to him.

* * *

The look on Will's face was definitely priceless.

"I was wondering why would you want to come here of all places," he said, his eyes never leaving the view, "but wow. It's amazing."

"I know, right?" she said. "I wish I could stay up here all day and night."

"With food and a book, I'd stay here too."

Tessa smiled. She had to ask him about the books he read later.

"Well, and a bathroom, though it'd be fun if it landed down there in someone's..."

"Do not even finish that sentence," she said, with a disgusted look on her face. Will only smirked.

"I need to take a picture of this," he announced. He took his phone out of his pocket and put on the camera mode. "This view is definitely going as my background."

She stood quietly at his side while Will took a couple of pictures of that view of Manhattan, up from the Empire State Building. Like he just had an idea, he slowly turned around, focusing the camera on Tessa, while she was too lost in her own thoughts.

"Smile!" _click. _It was then when she realized that he'd taken a picture of her.

"Oh God, erase that!" she said to him.

"No way. I take it back, this is definitely going as my background," he said, with that stupid smirk covering his lips.

"Will!" Tessa groaned, while she launched herself into him, trying to grab his phone. He lifted it up in the air, so Tessa wouldn't reach it, since he was taller than her. She clung onto his arms, and since she was on her tippy-toes, their faces were now at the same level, just an inch apart from each other. What was she even trying to do? Oh, right, the cellphone.

But the cellphone thing was so over already. Tessa was lost in those infinite blue eyes, and if she leaned on just a little bit closer, their lips would meet. Their lips would TOUCH. She slowly put her arms back down, placing them over his shoulders, and Will grabbed her by the waist, and she felt so dizzy, desperate; she couldn't believe that she had already tasted those lips, that she had seen him naked, that they had done... _stuff_, naked. Oh, God. He was so, so terribly close, and she was losing all the self-control she had left...

"You're blocking my view!" a young, pitched voice yelled near them.

They quickly broke apart, only to see a little kid looking angrily at them. "S-sorry," Tessa stammered, a slight blush slowly making its way to her cheeks. She didn't even dare to look at William. She'd figured he was probably smirking amusingly, though if she had actually looked, she would've seen that he was not doing that but rather shooting an angry look at the young boy.

"Let's go, Will..." she said, looking at everything around them but him, "You already took the pictures anyway,"

"Sure," he said, totally lost in his own thoughts. Tessa was dying to know what was going on through his mind. They had, indeed, almost kissed... had he actually wanted to? Or was it just the moment? Did he still want to kiss her? She felt the urge to smack herself for being so weak, for even if she wasn't so sure of what she felt, she was sure of one thing: if Will suddenly pinned her up against a wall and started kissing her, right there, right now, she would not stop him. At all.

"Where to now, boss?" Will said when they reached the street. Tessa rolled her eyes.

_So he's going to pretend nothing (almost) happened... Fine, then._

"Um... Maybe you'd like to go to the Public Library? Since, you know, you said- well, Cecily said - that you liked to read..."

"Sure," he said, like it was nothing. Tessa sincerely hoped he'd like the place. She'd become crazy when she first went there, at the tender age of six. She would've given everything to have that Library next to her house, instead of 45 minutes away from it.

Fifteen minutes later, they both stood inside of the gigantic Public Library. William looked... speechless.

"Seriously, how… how can you live in that awfully small city when you have this so close?" he asked her.

Tessa chuckled. "I always wanted to live in Manhattan, but sooner or later I had to face the fact that it wasn't going to happen..." she trailed off, noticing that he wasn't quite listening to her anymore, "Um...?"

"Look at all the books they have, Tess!" Will exclaimed, in pure delight. Tessa couldn't help but find it adorable.

"Do you like any genre in particular?"

"I enjoy quite everything, I think," he said, seated on the floor, while scanning some titles of a random shelf. "Maybe the Classics... and no-I did not say it because you love them too," he quickly added, with a smirk covering his lips.

"I know," Tessa said. "I've come to a conclusion about you,"

"Really? What's that?"

"You're honest about everything," she answered, looking at him straight in the eyes. "Even if that implies you being an asshole."

Will laughed. "I'd say that's pretty accurate."

Tessa shrugged, and he said, "So, what other conclusions have you made about me? I'm all ears,"

She thought about it for a second, but realized that she couldn't possibly say out loud the things she assumed of him, considering that they were stuff like 'he probably sleeps around a lot'. That was a subject she really didn't wish to discuss with him again.

"Don't have any more," she mumbled. "Wait, have _you _made conclusions about me?" she asked him, curiosity filling her tone. She couldn't help it.

"Maybe," he said vaguely, and stood up from the floor so he could be closer to her.

Tessa snorted, though she had to admit that she was nervous. About what though, she wasn't quite sure. "Stop trying to be so mysterious,"

"But you love it," he smirked, and she rolled her eyes in response. He was so full of himself. "I think that you're a pretty girl who reads a lot and is too shy to admit she actually does... stuff that a normal shy person wouldn't do."

She shook her head, trying to get pass the fact that _he__'__d called her pretty. _"I'm shy as it is, it's not like... like I'm 'wild' and do crazy stuff and I'm just shy when it comes to tell people what I did. I don't do crazy stuff."

"Then how'd you call what happened in that party?" Will asked her, raising an eyebrow. "You said that you didn't sle-"

"I'm not discussing that again, less of all IN A LIBRARY," she hissed. "That old woman right there gave me a deadly glare when you mentioned the party. Can't we just talk about books or whatever? I don't know, about anything actually, rather than this," she sputtered.

"Fine," Will smirked. "We can talk about whatever you want, _Tess_."

* * *

Things she knew about William Herondale now:

1) Books had been his only constant company —aside from his family— since he was a child, for he'd moved a lot through the years.

2) He didn't read much romance (obviously), and he preferred action (obviously).

3) They both had strongly different opinions about one of her favorite books, A Tale of Two Cities, which lead to a twenty minutes discussion of the book, which lead to Will's conclusion that he was going to re-read it again, as long as she would read some book at his recommendation.

4) The more she got to know him, the more she enjoyed his company.

* * *

Tessa threw her head back and closed her eyes, sighing happily. "Don't you just love Central Park in the autumn?"

"It's a nice park," he said quietly. Tessa rolled her eyes.

"I wish I knew how to paint. It's such a beautiful sight."

Tessa had to admit that it had been a great day. After the thing-that-almost-happened at the Empire State, they went to the Public Library, they had lunch, they visited Times Square and Tessa took him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. How many boys can you actually take to those places? Seriously. Most of them would just want to go to the Madison Square Garden or something to go see a match.

Yes, Will had his sarcastic, arrogant attitude. But beneath that there was a really nice boy. A really nice and hot boy she had slept with. And she didn't have romantic delusions; she knew a relationship between the two of them would never work, for many various reasons. But weren't you supposed to stop lusting for a STRANGER once you slept with him? Maybe it was because Tessa didn't remember anything, but the lust was still there, much to her annoyance.

"Let's play a game," said Will. Leaves from various characteristic autumnal colors were everywhere around them, along with children riding bikes and people walking peacefully.

"A game?" she raised an eyebrow. "Uh..."

"It's a get to know each other kind of game. It's called 'I Never'? You know it?" he asked her.

"Don't you need alcohol to play that?"

"Yeah, well, not necessarily. Come on, I say one thing I _supposedly_ didn't do, and if you did it, you have to raise your hand," he explained. "Plus, I still need to find out that thing you didn't want to tell me."

"Fine, let's play," she said, remembering how did this whole trip to Manhattan had started. He wasn't going to find out. But this could be interesting though. _Think of all the things you want to know about him_, she thought. "I've never... been in an orgy."

Will didn't move, but raised his eyebrows. "How badly do you think of me?"

"Badly enough," she said, holding back a smirk.

"I never... had a boyfriend."

Tessa slowly raised her hand. "I never had a girlfriend."

She saw Will hesitating, but slowly raising his hand too. _At least he__'__s not that big of a manwhore… right?_

"I never had sex on a public place."

"Does the party count as a public place?" she frowned. Will shook his head no, so she didn't raise her hand. _Aaand we__'__re back on the sex subject_.

"I never had sex with more than two people," he said.

"It was my turn!" Tessa complained.

"You'll go twice later." She looked at him with a blank expression, and didn't raise her hand. She could feel the blush making its way to her cheeks...

"Didn't you already know that anyways?"

"I wanted to make sure," he shrugged.

"Yeah, because being the second boy is such an important thing," she said sarcastically. Will smirked.

"Why did you break up with your boyfriend?" he suddenly inquired.

Tessa stopped. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm trying to get to know you better, _Tess_."

"But we were playing a game..."

"We'll continue later."

"No," she said, "_I _want to know more about you. Why did _you_ break up with your girlfriend?"

Will looked uncomfortable. "I..." he swallowed loudly, "It's complicated."

"Did you cheat on her?!" she asked.

"I know you don't have the best thoughts about me, Tessa, but I'm not as bad as you think I am," Will said, clearly annoyed.

"Fine. But what happened?"

"Have I told you that you ask too many questions?"

"Yes. Now move on."

"It's complicated, I already said it. Something... major happened, and we had to break up. I don't want to talk about it," he said.

Tessa decided to stop questioning before he got mad. After all, it sounded like the same reason she and Jem broke up.

"We broke up because he moved back to his native country," she said. "My boyfriend and I…. a long distance relationship wasn't really our thing. It always felt like it was something lacking, though. Like we were never really more than friends,"

"I never… was afraid of what the people from my school may think about me," Will said, two blocks away from their houses now. They had been playing the annoying game during the entire trip back.

"I'm not AFRAID," Tessa corrected him.

"But how would you call it, Tessa?" Will inquired. "You obviously are very concerned of what they think about you."

"That's it. I am concerned. I don't like people saying bad things behind my back," she admitted.

"How's sleeping with someone necessarily a BAD thing? I am sure everyone does it in your school..."

"They do! But….it's different."

"How? How can it be?"

"I am different than them!" she said, raising her tone. "They would tease me mercilessly about it if they found out! And... you're from... Idris School! Do you really need more reasons?"

"Cut the school crap. I don't buy it," he said. "Why? Do they bully you in your school or something?"

"No," she said. "I'm not 'bullied'. But I'm not popular. Quite the opposite, actually. I don't... I don't..." she started to stammer, having an internal debate of what the hell she should do in that situation. How would Will react if she told him? _'Hey, everyone thinks I'm a bookworm, and I don't have many friends, so I don't want people to find out cause they would molest me all day. But it was great meeting you!__'__. _She actually _enjoyed_ his company. What if what she told him would send him away?

"What are you scared of?" Will asked, starting to lose his temper. "I won't tell anyone! Not that I have anyone to tell..."

"I DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO FIND OUT, WILL. That's fucking it. Everyone thinks of me... differently. Like the only thing I do in my life is read. Read Read Read. And go out with like two friends, which is quite accurate, though. And… just… imagine how they would tease _me_ if they found out. I'm not just some girl from the New York Institute who hooked up with someone from Idris School. I am... It would be worse with me, and that's it. Now can you please, _please_, not tell anyone?"

Will seemed speechless. Or maybe he didn't have anything to say, but Tessa noticed him totally silent at her side. She was practically trembling.

"I..." he said, "I didn't know that." She rolled her eyes. _No, seriously?_

"I won't tell anyone, Tess, you already knew that," he reassured her. "But... how? How can you have that reputation? Or actually be like that? It's exactly like the shy thing. A person who's like that wouldn't have done... _that_, at the party."

"I don't know," she felt herself blushing. "It was the alcohol. Alcohol does that to people, Will."

"It is said that you actually do the stuff you _wish_ to do when you're drunk," he said, looking at her. They slowly stopped walking, for they were in their block already.

"No... It's not like I wish to sleep with strangers at every party. That's not who I am."

"But you obviously were attracted to me," he said, though there was no hint of a smirk on his face. "And you wanted to... do something about it, you truly wanted to, and the alcohol helped."

"Stop flattering yourself," Tessa said almost in a whisper. "Did you want it, too? Did you want it to happen?"

Tessa swallowed loudly as he leaned incredibly closer, only living a mere inch between their bodies. The electricity vibrated in the air as Tessa whispered his name, though she wasn't sure if it was to stop him or to tell him to keep going.

"Tess..." he breathed, rubbing his lips sensually against hers as they inhaled each other's air.

Tessa closed her eyes. _Just one inch_...

"Holy shit!" they heard a manly voice said, pretty close to them. "_She_ was your mysterious girl from the party?!"

* * *

**A/N: I'm so terribly sorry for how long it took me to update this. I'm just really depressed with school and got a lot of things to do, so, yeah, I'm sorry :( hope you've enjoyed the chapter though. The next one shouldn't be taking me so long.**

**SPECIAL THANKS TO MY BETA SummerRain200**** :)**

**Until next time!**


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